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elliotvanz's review
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
3.0
A gut punch of a collection. The linguistic style wasn't my favorite but I can tell I'll revisit this again anyway. Such a raw and furious scream.
ashpanda88's review
4.0
I'm usually not into poetry but I heard Amber Tamblyn read from her book at a local bookstore and just loved how hard-hitting and honest her poems felt. After reading the full collection I'm even more impressed. This collection covers the lives and deaths of child stars. It can be raunchy, it can be tragic, but every poem is so true.
audioandereadergrrly's review
A very heavy collection of poems. I kept going back and forth between the book and Google to search the actresses mentioned in the collection, and for me this distracted from the reading experience. I wish each poem included a short blurb about each actress. The collection itself is a good springboard for a dialogue of how Hollywood historically treats actresses, and it was told in a way that only Tamblyn's unique perspective could tell it. Then there is the epilogue, with personal poems, notes, and emails that seem disjointed from the rest of the collection and in my opinion, took away from the collection as a whole.
dominic_t's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
3.0
This is a book of poems about actresses who died young. I wasn't familiar with most of the actresses, so I didn't fully understand most of the poems. I wish that she had included the context of each poem, like a brief blurb about each person's life and death.
I really liked some of the poems she wrote about herself and her insecurities, but some of the poems came off a bit self-indulgent.
I really liked some of the poems she wrote about herself and her insecurities, but some of the poems came off a bit self-indulgent.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Death, and Murder
carolineinthelibrary's review
3.0
I’d wanted to read this book for a while and I don’t know if I hyped myself up too much or it just wasn’t for me, but it fell sort of flat. It’s obvious that Tamblyn did a lot of research about these “gone too soon” actresses but if you don’t know who they are, a lot of context and depth is lost. I think it’s an interesting concept but hard to execute.
jennareads's review
3.0
Overall, enjoyed the writing but some of the dept was missing because of context and misplaced pieces.
I loved the premise of writing about child stars who died young. Getting into their head was really interesting and there was a mix of beautiful words, humor, and stories. I didn't care of the extra stuff: the emails, the personal poems, ect. While I thought those were interesting on their own, I think if a book has a theme you should stick to that. The wandering lost me because I wasn't as interested. I wish there were more poems about each actress or more facts about each, maybe a short intro with some background.
As much as I liked the poems, I wish there was more context for them. The introduction did suggest researching about people you find interesting. Yet, when I had not heard of someone reading the poem didn't mean much. Without the context there was a lot of lot depth. Searching out the information was great but it lead me down a wiki rabbit hole of finding a lot of them before returning to the poems. Which made me wonder why read the whole poem?
I loved the premise of writing about child stars who died young. Getting into their head was really interesting and there was a mix of beautiful words, humor, and stories. I didn't care of the extra stuff: the emails, the personal poems, ect. While I thought those were interesting on their own, I think if a book has a theme you should stick to that. The wandering lost me because I wasn't as interested. I wish there were more poems about each actress or more facts about each, maybe a short intro with some background.
As much as I liked the poems, I wish there was more context for them. The introduction did suggest researching about people you find interesting. Yet, when I had not heard of someone reading the poem didn't mean much. Without the context there was a lot of lot depth. Searching out the information was great but it lead me down a wiki rabbit hole of finding a lot of them before returning to the poems. Which made me wonder why read the whole poem?
balletbookworm's review
4.0
Sad and intriguing collection of poems distilled from the tragic lives of actresses, some quite obscure (I had trouble finding them with Google - there's an 8pg list of search terms consisting of actress' names and deaths, many of whom died young and holy dude will that take a bit to go through and reconcile with those poems based on actresses I couldn't find initially).
Included in and around those poems based on real women are anxieties that Tamblyn herself must share with these women - the pressure to perform, to conform, to be on display, and to be the object of obsession. (One particular poem is chilling in that it is blank, wordless, as if it is waiting for its subject's final move before filling in. I won't spoil that one by telling you who it is)
Included in and around those poems based on real women are anxieties that Tamblyn herself must share with these women - the pressure to perform, to conform, to be on display, and to be the object of obsession. (One particular poem is chilling in that it is blank, wordless, as if it is waiting for its subject's final move before filling in. I won't spoil that one by telling you who it is)
rdyourbookcase's review
3.0
It’s so interesting to see other ways in which a celebrity is creative. These were powerful poems and I loved that the book recommended looking up more information about the people featured in the book.
I’m no expert on poetry, by any means, but I was impressed.
I’m no expert on poetry, by any means, but I was impressed.